Dancing With Ghosts
by Neisha
Summary: Sometimes a gentle embrace can bring back all of Heaven's treasures, even if only for one night a year. Oneshot InuxKag SanxMir


I do not own Inuyasha or its characters.

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Dancing With Ghosts

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_Prologue...Sixty Five Years After Naraku's Defeat..._

_Sango and Miroku had had three children, all of whom were grown and raising children of their own. So when the time came that Sango and Miroku started needing help, Kagome and Inuyasha had been determined to care for the two as best they could._

_They had remained close though the years. Age was never a factor when it came to the group sitting around the campfire at night, remembering the past, and all the things they had accomplished throughout their lives. _

_Some things never changed though: midnight campfire stories, camp-outs for no other reason but to sleep beneath a blanket of stars, as they had done so very long ago. _

_And then there was the tradition they'd started in celebration of Sango and Miroku's wedding anniversary:dancing by the light of the moon._

_Every year on the night of their anniversary, the four of them would meet in the clearing just behind the house, build a campfire, lay out their sleeping bags, and remember all that had come and gone._

_Before they retired for the night, they would hold their loved ones close, and dance to the melody of nature._

_

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The day had dawned beautifully, the early morning rays of sunlight weaving their way around the landscape, touching everything in its warmth.

The grass blew elegantly beneath the caress of the summer breeze. Each strand danced gracefully to some unheard melody, each piece swaying to and fro, the sun's warmth glistening off the dew that still clung wistfully to them.

Birds called softly to one another, animals moved in search of their morning meal, and Inuyasha and Kagome quietly rose from bed, Inuyasha's arm casually hanging from her shoulder.

Her arm wrapped lovingly around his waist, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder as he eased himself lower to place a warm kiss to her forehead.

"Should we wake them, Kagome? You know how the monk gets when you interrupt his sleep," Inuyasha asked, his face brightening in a smile.

"Miroku will be fine; he can't have lecherous dreams all the time, can he?" Kagome giggled as she and Inuyasha turned toward Sango and Miroku's room.

"This is Miroku we're talking about - the same Miroku who hasn't changed a bit since we were kids. The same Miroku who, just yesterday, got slapped by Sango for grabbing her rear. Seriously, he'll never change. Who would've thought a ninety-something year old man, would still be trying to play grab ass," Inuyasha laughed.

"I know, but we wouldn't want him to change, would we. Miroku wouldn't be Miroku if he didn't try to grab someone's rear," Kagome said, laughing softly at the expense of the monk. "Boy, he's kept things interesting hasn't he?"

"Definitely interesting," Inuyasha agreed. Reaching to open the door to Miroku and Sango's room, his hand froze,the scent of death hitting him hard.

Kagome moved past him, unaware that he hadn't moved forward, and unaware that her best friends would no longer be joining them for their morning baths.

Sango and Miroku were in their nineties and had lived their lives to the fullest. Kagome was still blissfully unaware that they'd left their life together.

Kagome stood at the edge of the bed, kneeling slowly as she moved to push a piece of Sango's silvery hair behind her ear.

"Sango, wake up. It's bath time."

When her best friend didn't stir, Kagome called her name again, her voice shaking slightly as realization set in. Inuyasha made his way over to kneel silently beside Kagome.

"Sango. Miroku? Please wake up-" Kagome begged as she gently shook Sango's shoulder before reaching to tug gently on Miroku's hand.

Miroku? Miroku! You can't leave! Damn it, no- not yet!" Kagome cried.

Inuyasha reached to pull Kagome against him, her head sheltered under his own as he held her tight, her fists pounding lightly into his chest as she grieved, tears soaking the front of his shirt.

Miroku lay spooned behind Sango, one arm resting around her waist as he held her tightly to him, the other he'd used to cushion his wife's head.

Sango's hand was held lovingly in Miroku's, her soft silver hair a halo beneath them. They looked so peaceful, still so in love after all the years.

Inuyasha's vision blurred, his tears pouring forth when he realized that his best friends, were gone.

They'd never hear their laughter again, never again feel their touch, or hear the happiness in their voices. They'd never hear Sango chastise Miroku for grabbing her rear, or hear the echo of her slap reverberate through the walls of their home.

Hours passed before Inuyasha and Kagome could pull themselves out of the room. Sesshomaru and Rin took over funeral preparations, and before long they stood before a small shrine, the bodies of their friends having been laid to rest.

Sango and Miroku's children came and left, their grief rendering conversation an impossibility as only tears would fall. Inuyasha turned to Sesshomaru, eyes thanking him silently when no words would form. Sesshomaru nodded quietly as he reached to pull a sobbing Rin and Shippo from Kagome's arms as they, too, turned to leave.

"I sat with Sango yesterday," Kagome whispered to herself, lost in the memory."I thought the warmth of the water would help ease her tired bones. We've gone to that spring every morning for the last sixty five years, and though I had to help her, we still came to bathe every aged so gracefully, Inuyasha. I never noticed how much older they'd gotten. And Miroku... he never changed did he? He never-"

"Shhh," Inuyasha soothed. "We'll see them again Kagome," Inuyasha said as he, too, broke down. Together, they cried alone, their sobs heard by none but the breeze, and the ghosts within.

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Kagome sat quietly in Inuyasha's sheltered embrace, heart broken as she stared silently at the shrine that would forever hold the bodies of their dearest friends. They had shared so much, had lived more in one lifetime together, than most had ever dared to dream of. Saying goodbye was hard.

"Dance with me?" Inuyasha murmured. "To remember them, both in life, and in death."

Kagome found herself wrapped securely in the warmth of Inuyasha's embrace as their bodies began to move to the beating of their hearts. They moved together, each reliving memories of their time together, of their friendship with a perverted monk and a demon slayer.

Neither noticed when Kirara stirred from her spot at the door of the shrine, her face lifting from her paw as she watched. A moment later, she stood, silently making her way over to jump up and curl herself atop Inuyasha's shoulder as he and Kagome continued to dance.

Sesshomaru, Rin and Shippo stood at the window of his castle, each awed by the sight that met them. Inuyasha and Kagome danced together, Kirara curled up on Inuyasha's shoulder as they moved together, but it was the _other_ two that held their attention.

There, within the silhouette of the moon, hovered two other beings, holding each other close as they to moved to the silent lullaby of nature.

Sango and Miroku danced once again as well. Smiles lit their faces as Sango moved to remove the monk's lecherous hand away from her rear, their laughter unheard in the midnight air.

They were young, each looking exactly as they had when they were so full of life. Through their mist, one could still see Inuyasha and Kagome moving silently together, their eyes finally seeing the dancing pair beside them.

And so they danced, each couple enjoying the night as they had for so many years. This was their tradition; every year on the anniversary of Sango and Miroku's wedding, they came out to dance. And every year Miroku and Sango came, even after their deaths. They all danced, they laughed, but most of all, they remembered.

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_**400 years later...**_

Kagome held a young woman's hand as the new mother-to-be struggled to bring forth the life that lay within her. Kagome encouraged her as she leaned forward in anticipation."She's coming! One more good push- that's it, push!"

With that final push, a baby girl was born, with dark brown hair, and ten tiny fingers and toes.

Inuyasha stood at the other side of the bed staring down at the little girl they had adopted from the beautiful woman who'd just delivered her.

The doctor cleaned the infant, wrapping her in a soft blanket before bringing the child to the new mother who held her briefly before turning and handing her to Kagome.

"I wish I could care for her myself, but things don't always work out that way do they?" she said as she looked at the baby held lovingly Kagome's arms.

"Meet your new mother, little one," the young woman murmured as exhaustion began to take hold."Have you two decided on a name?"

Kagome looked up, her eyes tearing as she looked at the three year old, black haired boy Inuyasha held in his arms.

"Well, little one? She's going to be very special to you," Inuyasha said to the young boy before they both looked back at the new baby.

"Sango. How do you like that name, Miroku?" Inuyasha asked as he looked at the little boy in his arms once more. The little boy reached to run his finger down the side of the sleeping baby's face, a small grin brightening his features. "My Sango," he agreed.

Kagome and Inuyasha had adopted Miroku, a little guy whose parents had been killed in a car crash when he was just a couple months old, the accident happening just two car lengths in front of them.

Kagome and Inuyasha had pulled over to help, only to discover that the boy was the only survivor. They'd helped search for any surviving family members, and when none could be located, they'd petitioned the court for adoption.

Kagome had befriended this new young mother several years back, had been with her when she lost her husband to cancer, and when the doctors had informed her of her own terminal illness, and of her pregnancy. And now, they were parents to this new little girl as well, the adoption already legalized.

Five hundred years after loosing Miroku and Sango, they had found them again. They could stop dancing with ghosts, and start dancing with life again. They would care for their friends in youth as they had in old age, so many, many years ago.

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**_Lol- A bit of editing on my part for this one, though it still needs a few touch-ups. A slightly different version, though for the most part, the same. I hope this is a better read than it was before, lol. _**


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